Open Questions

Communication has changed! The traditional rules for speaking and presenting, meeting coordination, influencing people, negotiating and selling ideas no longer apply in a world of skype, messenger, video and teleconference. This course will act as an overview on several concepts each of which could be a course of their own and our goal is to give you tools that you can practice and perfect on your own.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
• Apply communication principles and techniques for in-person and virtual teams
• Use a science based approach to create impactful presentations
• Refine your communication style to better persuade and influence others
• Run more effective and impactful meetings
• Incorporate strategies to have positive difficult conversations and make people feel valued and listened to
*** This course will require you to record yourself speaking. Therefore you must have a phone/computer with a functional camera and microphone.***
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS COURSE?
Anyone looking for professional and/or leadership development. This class mainly uses examples from the professional, business environment. If you are looking to advance at your current organization or to enhancing your personal value for potential employers this course is for you.
WHAT MAKES THIS COURSE EFFECTIVE?
Many educational experiences describe and explain, but in this course we will apply and demonstrate. We teach practical and proven concepts, show you how to apply them and give you opportunities to practice them in a safe and supportive environment. This course is full of opportunities to put the ideas presented into practice and test their effectiveness for yourself.
WHY SHOULD YOU TAKE THIS COURSE?
We will challenge the preconceived ideas about what it means to be part of a virtual team, and support you to be a dynamic team contributor no matter where you work. In this course you can expect to be both energized and uncomfortable – like in most experiences that result in positive growth and change!
This course is offered through the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies (https://learn.utoronto.ca/).

審閱

AH

Ivan is a fantastic presenter. I never felt overwhelmed by the content or that I couldn't follow along. I see a tremendous value in the easy to digest modules in this course.\n\nThank you so much!

MC

Apr 27, 2020

Filled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled StarFilled Star

It was a great course! I did enjoy the lectures and found myself constantly engaged with the topics. I will surely be able to use the lessons I learned from here in the workplace/virtual space.

從本節課中

Influence, Power and Questioning Strategies in Virtual Collaboration

In this module we move from presenting to convincing and persuading. These ideas can be applied to to presentations and also one-on-one communication both in-person and virtually. We will cover how recognize peoples communication styles and motivations and how strategically communicate in a way that will resonate with them.

教學方

Ivan Wanis Ruiz

腳本

So in this video, we are going to discuss open-ended questions, how to use them, and why we use them. Open-ended questions are there to get more information, to let the person talk, to elaborate on something, to tell a story. There are three reasons we use open-ended questions. One, just to get someone talking. For trying to create a relationship with someone, boom, not advisable in email, but very advisable in video chat and in person. So, the second reason is to get someone's point of view because if we can find out somebody's point of view, we have a better sense of what their power motivation is, of what they want, of what their goals are. The last reason is probably the one we think about the least but affects us the most. You ask open-ended questions to make somebody feel important. If you and I don't know each other, and we've only been communicating by email, and we have a video conference, and that's my opportunity to start asking you some open-ended questions, and I let you do most of the talking, you're going to come out of that conversation and think like, "Wow, that guy was really great. He just spent a lot of time listening to me, he seemed really interested." Those are going to impact you. Those are the three reasons we use open-ended questions: To get somebody talking, to get their point of view or opinion on something, and to make them feel important. Now Imagine, we're on sales call. We start asking a few yes or no questions. Brand new client, supposed they're abrupt. They don't elaborate on anything. Yeah. No. Yeah. No. Maybe we can understand their communications down now, which would be hostile. Maybe we asked them a few close-ended questions is like, "Oh, Yes." Super enthusiastically. What type of communications that would that be? Maybe you ask them a yes or no question and they're noncommittal. What type of communication style would that be? So just by using those, we start getting a sense of who this person is. So we asked them a close-ended question about do you have a good quarter? It was pretty good. Really? Why? What did you do? Well, I was responsible. What's the kind of person that's going to tell you about all the good stuff they did? Really? Why? What happened? What did you do? Well, I didn't do anything actually. I just have a really great team, and our division was one of the best in the company. That's probably an institutional. Really? Why? What happened? You know what, I just really believe that if I have happy employees, they're going to work hard. Which one is that? There are a million types of open-ended questions you can ask, but here's a few that I use that I've found very effective. Number one, tell me the story of. This is something that a lot of podcasts and radio hosts will do. You asked a close-ended question, do you breakfast never? Never? Okay. You have to tell me the story about that. How do you even make it in the world? That's going to get someone talking, it's going to give you an opinion, it's going to make them feel important. Ask for an opinion. What's the best for? Where should I go for? What should I do if? Get their opinion. Nothing makes a person feel valued by asking for their opinion. Just do this, try this out. Even socially, what's the best three restaurants I should visit? Oh, gosh I don't know. Well, I know. I'll tell you my three. Exactly, that's what I want know. I want to know your favorite three. Okay. You see how you can connect with someone like that? Here's one more. No, no, no. You've got to tell me more about that. Sometimes people would drop little hints, they'll say things like, "Oh never." Whoa, whoa whoa, whoa, no. You got to tell me about that, you can't just say never and not tell me more. Especially in sales calls, that's a great one to use. Have you ever thought about switching your rugs? Oh, god no. Really, never? Come on, you can't just say no and not tell me why. I just don't think they're very important. Boom. Now, you're in a conversation where you didn't bring up selling something, they did. Those are three examples of open-ended questions that you can use to get someone talking.